I'm flying home tomorrow after spending a week with my friend, Nick, exploring the Pacific Northwest. It's been a great trip so far, as my previous blogs should indicate. For our last stop, we decide to visit Fort Clatsop. This is a reconstruction of the last encampment of the Corps of Discovery, also known as the Lewis & Clark Expedition, made before returning east to St. Louis. They made this their home during the winter of 1805-1806. The National Park Service has used descriptions from their journals to reconstruct the fort as it very likely existed in their time.
Growing up in the St. Louis area, the Lewis & Clark Expedition to explore Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase lands is something I learned a great deal about. It's almost as if I've come full circle now by visiting the far terminus of their most successful journey. The fort itself is nothing more than some connected log cabins with a retaining wall built around the outside, but this was likely enough to keep them warm and safe during their time here. Several volunteers, dressed in period clothing, linger around the rooms and answer questions of visitors. It's really well done and I appreciate how well informed they are of the history and day-to-day of the Corps members.
After walking around the area for a short time, I feel blessed to have been able to see this reconstruction and learn more about the climax of Lewis & Clark's Expedition. Their goal was to find a route to the Pacific and they did just that, with grit and determination. Now it's time for me to make my own journey back east.
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